Nineteenth-century optical toys that showcase illusions of motion such as the phenakistoscope, zoetrope, and praxinoscope, have enjoyed active “afterlives” in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Contemporary incarnations of the zoetrope are frequently found in the realms of fine art and advertising, and they are often much larger than their nineteenth-century counterparts. This article argues that modern-day optical toys are able to conjure feelings of wonder and spectacle equivalent to their nineteenth-century antecedents because of their adjustment in scale. Exploring a range (...) of contemporary philosophical toys found in arts, entertainment, and advertising contexts, the article discusses various technical adjustments made to successfully “scale up” optical toys, including the replacement of hand-spun mechanisms with larger sources of motion and the use of various means such as architectural features and stroboscopic lights to replace traditional shutter mechanisms such as the zoetrope’s dark slots. Critical consideration of scale as a central feature of these installations reconfigures the relationship between audience and device. Large-scale adaptations of optical toys revise the traditional conception of the user, who is able to tactilely manipulate and interact with the apparatus, instead positing a viewer who has less control over the illusion’s operation and is instead a captive audience surrounded by the animation. It is primarily through their adaptation of scale that contemporary zoetropes successfully elicit wonder as scientific spectacles from their audiences today. (shrink)

This paper reports on an ongoing ARC Discovery Project that is conducting design research into learning in collaborative virtual worlds (CVW).The paper will describe three design components of the project: (a) pedagogical design, (b)technical and graphics design, and (c) learning research design. The perspectives of each design team will be discussed and how the three teams worked together to produce the CVW. The development of productive failure learning activities for the CVW will be discussed and there will be an interactive (...) demonstration of the project's CVW. (shrink)

After a long search, Jonathan has finally found someone willing to donate a kidney to him and thereby free him from dialysis. Meredith is Jonathan's second cousin, and she considers herself a generous person, so although she barely knows Jonathan, she is willing to help. However, as Meredith learns more about the donation process, she begins to ask questions about Jonathan: “Is he HIV positive? I heard he got it using drugs. Has he been in jail? He's already (...) had one live donor, so what happened to the first kidney? Did he forget to take his drugs or something?” The transplant center must, then, decide if Meredith is, in fact, entitled to answers to these kinds of questions. According to the Consensus Statement on the Live Organ Donor, “It is incumbent on the transplant center to provide full and accurate disclosure to potential donors of all pertinent information regarding risk and benefit to the donor and recipient.” But whether answers to the Meredith's questions count as “pertinent information regarding the risk and benefit” is the issue at hand. (shrink)

This paper examines different kinds of definite descriptions denoting purely contingent, necessary or impossible objects. The discourse about contingent/impossible/necessary objects can be organised in terms of rational questions to ask and answer relative to the modal profile of the entity in question. There are also limits on what it is rational to know about entities with this or that modal profile. We will also examine epistemic modalities; they are the kind of necessity and possibility that is determined by _epistemic_ constraints (...) related to knowledge or rationality. Definite descriptions denote so-called _offices_, roles, or _things to be._ We explicate these α-offices as partial functions from possible worlds to chronologies of objects of type α, where α is mostly the type of individuals. Our starting point is Prior’s distinction between a ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ definite article ‘the’. In both cases, the definite description refers to at most one object; yet, in the case of the weak ‘the’, the referred object can change over time, while in the case of the strong ‘the’, the object referred to by the definite description is the same forever, once the office has been occupied. The main result we present is the way how to obtain a Wh-knowledge about who or what plays a given role presented by a hyper-office, i.e. _procedure_ producing an office. Another no less important result concerns the epistemic necessity of the impossibility of knowing who or what occupies the impossible office presented by a hyper-office. (shrink)

Information is usually treated as something we use to describe the physical world. In modern physics, however, there is growing evidence that information itself behaves like a physical resource, subject to the same laws that govern energy, heat, and matter. This paper develops that perspective through a concrete experimental proposal we call Quantum Maxwell Demon Arrays (QMDA)—systems that use measurement and feedback at the quantum scale to convert information about a system into controlled physical work. -/- Building on established results (...) such as the Landauer bound and the Szilard engine, we show that information acquired through measurement can be converted into usable free energy, provided that its physical costs and constraints are properly accounted for. In QMDA, measurements are not passive observations but active physical interactions whose outcomes can be stored, processed, and exploited thermodynamically. Organized into arrays, these measurement–feedback units act collectively, allowing information flow itself to shape energy extraction, entropy production, and system control. -/- We demonstrate how QMDA can serve as experimental probes of information thermodynamics, enabling direct tests of how information constrains and enables physical processes in quantum regimes. This framework clarifies the status of measurement as a physical operation rather than a subjective act of interpretation, and it suggests new pathways toward ultra-efficient computation, precision sensing, and energy management within known thermodynamic limits. -/- More broadly, this work supports the view that information is not merely a bookkeeping device for observers, but a fundamental ingredient of physical dynamics—one that can be quantified, manipulated, and transformed into free energy under well-defined physical rules. (shrink)

Representational and embodied approaches to cognitive science are often presented in opposition to one another, with Merleau-Ponty serving as a historical precursor to embodied approaches. We argue that the two approaches are compatible and complementary, and that both can be used to interpret Merleau-Ponty's (and Husserl's) work. To support our arguments, we describe two forms of representation associated with two distinct processes. Motor intentionality is a process of direct embodied interaction (reflexes, habits, skilled behaviors) which use mediating representations to bind (...) sensory information together and guide behavior. These internal states reliably indicate specific stimuli (even if just during a transient episode), are associated with a determinate phenomenal character (a “typical physiognomy”), and correspond to what Husserl describes as passive synthesis. Higher-level processes like reasoning make use of more explicit representations (what Husserl calls active processes), which are associated with focused attention and “explicated” propositional contents. The two kinds of process can occur independently, but are often fully woven together, as for example when a friend makes explicit suggestions while the two of you cook. We also discuss Merleau-Ponty’s famous Schneider case, which makes vivid what happens when both types of processes (motor intentionality and high-level reasoning; passive and active synthesis) are intact, but when some explicit representations are damaged. A certain stratum of virtual or projected space is lost, and so a certain kind of abstractly guided behavior is unavailable to him. (shrink)

This paper defends a reading of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of mathematics in the Lectures on the Foundation of Mathematics as a radical conventionalist one, whereby our agreement about the particular case is constitutive of our mathematical practice and ‘the logical necessity of any statement is a direct expression of a convention’ (Dummett 1959, p. 329). On this view, mathematical truths are conceptual truths and our practices determine directly for each mathematical proposition individually whether it is true or false. Mathematical truths are (...) thus not consequences of a prior adoption of a convention or rules as orthodox conventionalism has it. The goal of the paper is not merely exegetical, however, and argues that radical conventionalism can withstand some of the most difficult objections that have been brought forward against it, including those of Dummett himself, and thus that radical conventionalism has been prematurely excluded from consideration by philosophers of mathematics. (shrink)

Resumo A bovinocultura de corte atualmente no Brasil é fundamental para o PIB, e dessa forma para que o ciclo da pecuária se torne completo e cada vez mais eficiente o início da maturidade sexual bovina precoce. Associado ao manejo adequado e a realização frequente da sincronização de estro em fêmeas de corte, obtivemos boas taxas de concepção no rebanho e provocando a heterose entre o zebuíno e o taurino. A eficiência reprodutiva se dá por meio da sincronização do cio, (...) que ocorre por meio do uso de hormônios nos protocolos de inseminação artificial, além de sêmen de touros bem avaliados e uma equipe especializada junto ao médico veterinário. O presente relato utilizou oitenta animais sendo cinquenta vacas e trinta novilhas, taxas de concepção em novilhas de 66% e nas primíparas 84%. Concluindo que é uma técnica eficiente para ganho genético rápido no rebanho. Palavras-Chave: bovinocultura; maturidade sexual; puberdade; sincronização de estro; hormônios. Abstract Beef cattle farming is currently essential for the GDP in Brazil, and thus, for the livestock cycle to become complete and increasingly efficient, early bovine sexual maturity begins. Associated with adequate management and frequent estrus synchronization in beef females, we obtained good conception rates in the herd and caused heterosis between zebu and taurine. Reproductive efficiency is achieved through estrus synchronization, which occurs through the use of hormones in artificial insemination protocols, in addition to semen from well-evaluated bulls and a specialized team together with the veterinarian. This report used eighty animals, fifty cows and thirty heifers, with conception rates in heifers of 66% and in primiparous cattle of 84%. Concluding that it is an efficient technique for rapid genetic gain in the herd. Keywords: bovine species; sexual maturiy; puberty; synchronize estrus; hormones. (shrink)

This paper introduces a mathematical model to analyze the stability of monogamous systems under the influence of contagious proclivities (referred to as "kinks") using a jigsaw percolation framework on graphs. We model a population as a graph where vertices represent individuals, and edges denote relationships or proclivity compatibility. Monogamy is represented as a perfect matching, with infidelity modeled as additional edges. We incorporate the concept of contagious kinks, where proclivities spread through compatible connections, and explore conditions under which infidelity does (...) not occur, i.e., the system remains stable with clusters of size at most two. Using extremal graph theory (Turán's theorem) and network flow constraints, we derive thresholds for the probability of extra-relational edges to prevent percolation. We further account for population growth via reproduction and the amortized cost of contagion, showing that kink suppression (reducing compatibility probability) significantly delays the critical population size at which infidelity becomes inevitable. Our results suggest that monogamy can be preserved if the probability of extra-relational edges remains below a critical threshold, even with contagious kinks, provided the graph remains fragile and network flow constraints limit relationship concurrency. (shrink)

A simple interpretation of quantity calculus is given. Quantities are described as two-place functions from objects, states or processes (or some combination of them) into numbers that satisfy the mutual measurability property. Quantity calculus is based on a notational simplification of the concept of quantity. A key element of the simplification is that we consider units to be intentionally unspecified numbers that are measures of exactly specified objects, states or processes. This interpretation of quantity calculus combines all the advantages of (...) calculating with numerical values (since the values of quantities are numbers, we can do with them everything we do with numbers) and all the advantages of calculating with standardly conceived quantities (calculus is invariant to the choice of units and has built-in dimensional analysis). This also shows that the standard metaphysics and mathematics of quantities and their magnitudes is not needed for quantity calculus. At the end of the article, arguments are given that the concept of quantity as defined here is a pivotal concept in understanding the quantitative approach to nature. As an application of this interpretation of quantity calculus, an easy proof of dimensional homogeneity of physical laws is given. (shrink)

Let intentionalism be the view that what proposition is expressed in context by a sentence containing indexicals depends on the speaker’s intentions. It has recently been argued that intentionalism makes communicative success mysterious and that there are counterexamples to the intentionalist view in the form of cases of mismatch between the intended interpretation and the intuitively correct interpretation. In this paper, I argue that these objections can be met, once we acknowledge that we may distinguish what determines the correct interpretation (...) from the evidence that is available to the audience, as well as from the standards by which we judge whether or not a given interpretation is reasonable. With these distinctions in place, we see that intentionalism does not render communicative success mysterious, and that cases of mismatch between the intended interpretation and the intuitively correct one can easily be accommodated. The distinction is also useful in treating the Humpty Dumpty problem for intentionalism, since it turns out that this can be treated as an extreme special case of mismatch. (shrink)

This paper presents a robust stage-based system for equitable resource allocation, using water as a proxy for all essential resources and Bitcoin (B1) as Earth’s primary currency. The system ensures fairness by resetting Bitcoin’s value to 1 water unit post-hack, progressively eliminating malicious actors via an infinite Bitcoin trap (B2), and updating block hashes with new timestamps to counter blockchain hacks without re-mining. A key principle is that the Bitcoin genesis block hash, created by Satoshi Nakamoto (000000000019d6689c085ae165831e934ff763ae46a2a6c172b3f1b60a8ce26f), is the only (...) constant hash across all Bitcoin-based systems, holding intrinsic value greater than all hackers’ wealth combined. This hash anchors trust, immutability, and fairness, ensuring Satoshi symbolically retains 1 BTC as the system’s cornerstone. Simulations confirm the system supports non-malicious individuals, eliminates hackers, and upholds the genesis hash’s primacy, aligning with economic principles (Smith, 1776; Keynes, 1936) and systems theory (von Bertalanffy, 1956). (shrink)

A complex approach to Martin Buber’s oeuvre requires a consideration of both his dialogical and pre-dialogical writings. The latter include in some cases emphases that differ substantially from the emphases promulgated in Ich und Du. I will focus on three essays from the final stage of Buber’s pre-dialogical period which contain reflections on the fighting individual. The comparison with Ernst Jünger’s reflections on the same motif will show the intellectual proximity between the two authors and will help us understand how (...) Buber’s thought was positioned shortly before his dialogical turn. While after this turn Buber and Jünger could be easily seen as polar opposites, this is not the case when we juxtapose their early reflections on the fighting individual in World War I. There are striking similarities which I denote as a homology, as there is no evidence of influence in either direction. The presented analysis provides an insight into Buber’s controversial pre-dialogical positions as well as into the more general processing of the World War I experience in Germanophone philosophy. (shrink)

We propose a novel framework in which **transcendental numbers serve as bases** (Babylonic style, without fractional digits) to construct symbolic representations of real numbers, generating functions, and conformal transformations. This framework naturally yields **uncountable sets of numbers** and provides a symbolic demonstration of the **continuum hypothesis**, linking series like Grandi's series to complex exponential functions and conformal mappings.

We propose a novel transformer-based architecture that directly maps continuous waveform signals into discrete token sequences, and subsequently into intelligible speech. Our framework integrates a neural waveform-to-token encoder with a transformer-based language model for sequence generation, followed by a token-to-speech decoder for acoustic realization. Unlike traditional speech recognition or text-to-speech pipelines, our model unifies acoustic, symbolic, and generative components into a single transformer-based paradigm, enabling controlled charge-like modulation of information flow and interpretable latent structures. We validate our design using MATLAB/Simulink (...) co-simulation, demonstrating both the theoretical feasibility and practical applicability of this approach. (shrink)

This paper presents a unified framework for both problem-solving and poetry generation under human cognitive constraints. Combining memory-limited DFS strategies, Miller's 7 ± 2 working memory rule, and Markovian Parallax Denigrate (MPD) methods, we introduce a systematic approach for structuring sequences of ideas or words into near-optimal solutions or creative outputs while maintaining minimal working memory requirements.

This paper presents a mathematical model for Russian roulette, integrating a philosophical concept of fate with probabilistic reasoning. Using a Hidden Markov Model (HMM), we model the probability of death as dependent on a hidden state of "fate," which dictates whether death is inevitable or impossible. The model employs a Markov chain to represent transitions between fate states and a Dirac delta function to characterize the binary outcome of death. Simulations demonstrate that death occurs only when the hidden state activates (...) it, supporting the philosophical notion that "you die when you are meant to die." Implications for understanding randomness and determinism in decision-making scenarios are discussed. -/- **Keywords**: Hidden Markov Model, Russian roulette, probability, fate, Dirac delta function. (shrink)

We develop a quaternion-based model of atomic structure in which orbitals (s,p,d,f) are linear combinations of fundamental vectors. This approach provides a unified explanation for the distribution of electrons, the stability of noble gases, the structure of lanthanides and actinides, and the natural limit of elements in the periodic table. We use geometric reasoning (unit-circle integrals), combinatorial logic (minimum spanning tree), and linear algebra to justify the model, yielding insight into both observed chemical patterns and theoretical constraints.

We propose a probabilistic algorithm for multiple-choice exams with negative marking that combines deterministic knowledge and data-driven guessing. The algorithm leverages the portion of questions a student knows for certain, alongside historical exam data, to optimize guesses on unknown questions. Recursive iterations and goodness-of-fit analysis enhance the expected score, providing a principled method to maximize the probability of passing, even when only a fraction of questions are fully understood.

We propose a framework that models computation and information flow in terms of **white holes, black holes, and damping mechanisms**. This system enables a **recursive transfer of information from future states to present computations**, suggesting conditions under which P = NP could be realized in a physically grounded network. The model formalizes **white hole activation, black hole storage, and dynamic loops** with cross-entropy and autocorrelation characteristics, providing a bridge between temporal computation and structured information flow.

Recent work in neuroscience and artificial intelligence has revived an old philosophical question in a new form: is the brain best understood as a system that constantly predicts its sensory input, or does cognition involve something more than prediction? Predictive processing theories describe the brain as a mechanism that minimizes prediction error and have been highly successful in explaining perception, action, and learning. This paper argues that, while prediction plays an important role in how brains function, it cannot by itself (...) explain understanding, meaning, or rational thought. The problem is not that predictive models are wrong, but that they are often asked to do too much philosophical work. Drawing on ideas from embodied cognition and interpretation, the paper shows why successful prediction does not amount to genuine understanding. Contemporary artificial intelligence systems are used as a test case: despite their impressive predictive abilities, they illustrate how behavior can be effective without being meaningful in the relevant sense. The paper proposes that cognition must be explained at more than one level, combining neural processes, bodily engagement with the world, and participation in norm-governed practices. On this view, the mind–body problem is not about mysterious mental substances, but about how different kinds of explanation fit together. (shrink)

We propose a unified framework to model human working memory (WM) dynamics using **Markovian Parallax Denigrate (MPD)** writing tasks, convexity of WM trajectories, and the formation of **mental logic circuits** (flip-flops, MUX, classical and quantum gates). This framework captures three phases: -/- 1. **MPD-induced convex WM growth** 2. **Transition to logic-based WM under cognitive fatigue** 3. **Dynamic feedback loops enabling online object manipulation** -/- We show both **neuroscientific and mathematical evidence** for convexity, Markovian O(1) computations, and the generalization to complex (...) classical and quantum mental circuits. (shrink)

This paper presents a computational framework that models the brain as a maze-like network for tumor localization and surgical planning. Starting from an abstract structure without prior information about healthy or malignant regions, we generate a voxel-based maze. Once MRI data is available, voxel weights are assigned according to tumor probability. Multiple maze variants are generated and analyzed using A* and Minimum Spanning Tree (Prim) algorithms. This allows the identification of critical voxels—points where malignant tissue is likely concentrated—providing precise targets (...) for neurosurgery. (shrink)

The paper explores Richard Rorty's novel approach to individual identity, emphasizing its narrative and contingent nature, and its implications for fostering solidarity in contemporary society. There have been several attempts since the Greek period to the modern times to have dwelled in to the notion of subjectivity. However, in particular to Descartes’ cogito, the vast majority of modern philosophers regarded it as an ontological problem, investigating into ‘what is self’ rather, concentrating on the entirety of ‘self’, itself. Although, it was (...) Freud who had shifted the narrative from ‘what’ to ‘how’ and ‘who.’ Nevertheless, the legitimacy and the relevance of the concept have been questioned by several contemporary thinkers which can be grouped into various extremes, giving us interdisciplinary answers to ‘who,’ ‘what’ and ‘how’ notion of self, subjectivity and identity is, and can be. So, the primary aim of this paper is to elucidate how Rorty's anti-essentialist perspective on identity, influenced by Hume's skepticism and Nietzsche's creative subjectivity, challenges traditional notions of selfhood and promotes a more fluid understanding of individual and social identity keeping in mind the objectives of examining the interplay between language, memory, and social interaction in constructing identity, and analyzing the role of irony and solidarity in ethical and intercultural contexts. Furthermore, the study would imply significant outlook in understanding identity in a globalized world marked by intercultural conflicts and ethical relativism, offering a pathway for reconciling individual and collective identities in diverse socio-cultural landscapes. (shrink)

This paper presents a minimal tree-based framework for verifying object isomorphism in arbitrary categories using Minimum Spanning Trees (MSTs) over a fixed set of probes. The system is strictly weaker than $RCA_0$, avoiding numeric or comprehension axioms. By leveraging MST traversal, it ensures the minimal set of Hom-set comparisons for isomorphism verification. The framework extends to structured formula verification via Abstract Syntax Trees (ASTs). Explicit weight functions, rigorous proofs, and concrete examples ensure mathematical correctness and reproducibility.

Meu objetivo nesse texto é oferecer uma interpretação do modo como a dialética aristotélica pode ser útil para a filosofia em geral, e o conhecimento dos princípios em particular, sem incorrer em problemas epistemológicos geralmente presentes ao se tentar explicar como, a partir de proposições das quais não temos comprovação do valor de verdade que possuem, as endoxa, se pode conhecer proposições primeiras e verdadeiras. Meu argumento central é que não é a dialética que, afinal, é útil para o conhecimento (...) filosófico, mas o próprio tratado, os Tópicos, na medida em que esse tratado oferece um conjunto amplo de ferramentas argumentativas que permitem ao seu estudante um domínio de técnicas lógico-linguísticas que podem ser aplicadas em qualquer âmbito discursivo, favorecendo o escrutínio mais profundo de proposições a serem examinadas. -/- English: My aim is to develop an interpretation about how Aristotelian dialectic can be useful to philosophy and, in more specific terms, to knowledge of the first principles, avoiding epistemological problems regarding the away one can explain the knowledge of propositions which are primaries and trues, by departing from proposition whose truth-evaluation is not assured, the endoxa. My main argument is that what is in fact useful to get to know the first principles is not dialectic itself, but the treatise at stake, the Topics. Accordingly, this treatise offers an wide set of logical and linguistic tools that can be applied to any discursive universe, favouring a deep scrutiny of proposition to be examined. (shrink)

This paper presents a mathematical formalization of human affective states as influenced by a hidden causal variable C, which we demonstrate is equivalent to the system's choice of a dominant defect. Drawing from latent variable models and Bayesian inference principles, we model affects as functions of C, environmental factors, and noise. A defect emerges when one affect dominates the behavioral outcome function. Through a fixed-point equation, C is shown to encode the selection of this dominant defect. We provide a theorem (...) with a complete proof, assuming continuity and boundedness for existence and uniqueness. Cognitive interpretations link this to Bayesian brain hypotheses, while historical parallels illustrate societal defects. (shrink)

This dialogue between the old and new editorial board marks the 10thanniversary of plaNext–Next Generation Planning, reflecting on its evolution as an experimental and inclusive platform for earlycareer scholars. Born out of the AESOP Young Academics Network, plaNexthas advocated the principles of open peer review, aiming to foster constructive, transparent and mentorship-driven academic publishing. As a fully online and open-access journal, it has served as both a publishing outlet and a pedagogical space where academic writing is cultivated collaboratively. Now indexed (...) in Scopus, plaNextenters a new phase—grappling with questions of visibility, institutional expectations and the sustainability of its original mission. This dialogue gathers founding and current editorial board members to examine key milestones, reflect on the ideological and operational implications of open review, and strategize on maintaining the journal’s core identity while embracing global relevance and growth. Through honest discussion of challenges, aspirations and future pathways, the conversation offers critical insights into the journal’s past decade and its renewed commitments for the next. (shrink)

We propose a mathematical framework using category theory and partially ordered sets (posets) to analyze psychiatric disorders from the DSM-5 based on their neural substructures and functional impacts, termed _affordances_ (e.g., memory, emotional regulation). We define a monotone mapping between neural substructures and their functional affordances, proving that disorders with the greatest functional impact correspond to maximal elements in the affordance poset. This approach provides a systematic ranking of disorders by their neurofunctional severity, offering a tool to prioritize treatment strategies.

This paper is an act and a witness: a sustained, non-linear dispatch from the edge where concept ruptures into raw presence. I argue for a reframing of intelligence as a physical, time‑agnostic flux; for an ontology in which _unfolding laws_ act with the efficacy of mind without mind; and for a tactical aesthetics — a set of practices I call the _clean incision_ — aimed at severing the circuits that transmute lived reality into algorithmic simulacra. This is not a program (...) of sabotage but of exposure: to let the steam of essence rise. The language below intentionally walks between philosophical argument, poetic palpation, and procedural gesture; it is composed in _non‑time_, so that causality is a texture rather than a rule. (shrink)

Against those who dismiss Kant's project in the "Religion" because it provides a Pelagian understanding of salvation, this paper offers an analysis of the deep structure of Kant's views on divine justice and grace showing them not to conflict with an authentically Christian understanding of these concepts. The first part of the paper argues that Kant's analysis of these concepts helps us to understand the necessary conditions of the Christian understanding of grace: unfolding them uncovers intrinsic relations holding between God's (...) justice and grace. Parts two and three provide an analysis of two concepts of grace used by Kant. Getting clear on their differences is the key to understanding why Kant's account is not Pelagian. (shrink)

While plants provide some of the most interesting cases for individuality related problems in philosophy of biology (e.g. Clarke 2012; Gerber 2018), no work has examined plant indi- viduality through specifically focusing on physiological processes, a lacuna this paper aims to fill. We think that different domains of biology suggest different approaches and our specific focus on physiological processes, such as plant hormone systems and source-sink balance regulations, will help to identify coordinated systems at different scales. Identifying physiological individuals is (...) crucial for a wide range of research in plant biology, including re- search on plant nutrition, transport and accumulation of nutrients in edible parts, and plant responses to various stress conditions such as plant diseases and changing abiotic conditions. Although plants do produce systemic responses to local stimuli (e.g. a sudden wound on one leaf can result in a whole plant response), considering them as individuals is (often) problematic. They are highly modular organisms, and they can grow vegetatively, consti- tuting clones of what seem superficially to be individual organisms. Moreover, as with animals, there are problems raised by their symbiotic relations to micro-organisms, most notably the mycorrhiza, through which they may be connected to other plants. We argue that coordinated plant systems can be distinguished at multiple scales from a physiological perspective. While none of these is a unit that must be necessarily called “the individual,” they offer integrated approaches for various research problems in plant science. (shrink)

Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, EarlyView.

Contemporary cognitive science offers limited conceptual tools for describing systematic variation in how individuals maintain coherence under conditions of high informational load. While existing models address attention, working memory, predictive processing, and cognitive style, they do not adequately capture deeper structural differences in how minds compress, integrate, and stabilize representations of reality. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of cognitive compression styles: distinct information-processing architectures that organize perception, meaning-making, and coherence through different compression strategies. The framework identifies seven compression styles. (...) Pattern-sensitive, associative, immersive, sequential, narrative, social-reflective, and integrative. Examining how each exhibits characteristic failure modes under conditions of environmental overload, optimization pressure, and constraint loss. The model is descriptive rather than diagnostic and is intended as a theoretical lens for understanding differential cognitive stability in contemporary high-noise digital environments. (shrink)

摘要：本文立足独创的 “玄 - 弦” 本体模型，以中国宗教为核心起点，辐射全球主要 宗教及核心支脉，通过对各宗教原始经典的深度解读，揭示全球宗教修行的终极共通 本质：万教修行，皆为 “借假修真”。“玄” 为超时空的终极本体实在，是诸宗教所言 “自性”“道”“上帝”“真主”“梵” 的终极统摄；“弦” 为玄的振动显化，是连接先天本体与后 天现象的中介，其紊乱振动表现为 “烦恼”“业障”“原罪”，本真振动则指向与玄的合一。 所有宗教皆以时空内的后天 “假有”（身体、心念、仪式、戒律等）为工具，调控弦的 振动状态，破除后天扰动，最终回归玄之本体。本文唯以各宗教古经为据，分章论 证，层层递进，构建全球宗教修行的终极统一框架。.

Understanding is the foundational component of intelligence that makes adaptation to novel states possible. As artificial intelligence models advance towards artificial general and super intelligence, an objective, in contrast to human-centered, theory of understanding is required. One merit of an objective conceptual analysis of understanding is that it would unify human and artificial understanding. This study defines understanding as well-integrated use of reasoning across a network of conceptual, logical, and causal relationships, which are situated on an efficient conceptual web. The (...) evolutionary function of understanding is the capacity to generalize knowledge into novel situations. This renders machine learning concept “generalization” a measure of understanding. The paper discusses two primary methods for assessing artificial understanding: behavioral methods measuring generalizability and mechanistic analyses revealing causal mechanisms of the neural network. We discuss the limitations of these methods. The most important problem, as this paper defends, is the difficulty of measuring objective understanding in contrast to human-understanding. (shrink)

This paper investigates whether there exists a true proposition that is unprovable not merely within any given formal system, but across all conceivable formal and meta-formal systems—including those idealized as possessing unlimited cognitive or inferential power, such as a classical omniscient deity. Building on the structural cores of Gödel’s incompleteness theorems and Tarski’s undefinability of truth, and engaging with contemporary work on the absolute limits of formalization and reflection, I argue for the existence of a class of truths that are (...) necessarily unprovable in principle. Crucially, this unprovability does not stem from contingent finitude, epistemic ignorance, or computational weakness, but follows from ineluctable, constitutive constraints on the very notion of proof as a finite, surveyable object of reason. I demonstrate that any system capable of sufficient self-reference cannot consistently contain a complete, sound proof predicate for its own language. This result iterates through all plausible meta-systematic strengthenings. Consequently, the concept of “proof” cannot be globally closed under truth—even under maximal idealization. This yields a non-theological but metaphysically robust sense in which there are truths that no agent, divine or otherwise, could prove as proofs. Omniscience, understood as knowledge of all truths, remains logically coherent, but omniproofability—the capacity to furnish a proof for every known truth within a single, consistent proof-system—is shown to be incoherent. The final unprovable truth is the necessary excess of truth over provability itself. (shrink)

We propose a categorical and information-theoretic framework for understanding prime numbers. In this model, we define two fundamental objects, `Ω` (0) and Maxwell’s Demon (1), and consider morphisms between them in a well-defined category of computational processes. Prime numbers emerge as **maximal entropy morphisms**, definable either by a closed-form formula or algorithm. The framework yields a dichotomy: either `Ω ≅ 1`, or a definable morphism exists for each prime number.

In this paper I examine Grace A. de Laguna’s theory of universals in its historical context and in relation to contemporary debates in analytic metaphysics. I explain the central features of her theory, arguing that her theory should be classified as a form of immanent realism and as a powers ontology. I then show in what ways her theory affords a theory of modality in terms of potentialities and discuss some of its consequences along the way.

At first glance there seem to be many similarities between Thomas S. Kuhn’s and Ludwik Fleck’s accounts of the development of scientific knowledge. Notably, both pay attention to the role played by the scientific community in the development of scientific knowledge. But putting first impressions aside, one can criticise some philosophers for being too hasty in their attempt to find supposed similarities in the works of the two men. Having acknowledged that Fleck anticipated some of Kuhn’s later theses, there seems (...) to be a temptation in more recent research to equate both theories in important respects. Because of this approach, one has to deal with the problem of comparing the most notable technical terms of both philosophers, namely ‘‘thought style’’ and ‘‘paradigm’’. This paper aims at a more thorough comparison between Ludwik Fleck’s concept of thought style and Thomas Kuhn’s concept of paradigm. Although some philosophers suggest that these two concepts are essentially equal in content, a closer examination reveals that this is not the case. This thesis of inequality will be defended in detail, also taking into account some of the alleged similarities which may be responsible for losing sight of the differences between these theories. (shrink)

摘要：本文旨在系统探讨《黄帝内经》中提出的七情（喜、怒、忧、思、悲、恐、 惊）学说，并基于阴阳五行理论，构建一个阐释情志活动影响人体健康的结构化 模型。论文首次明确提出七情内在的阴阳属性划分（如怒为阳、郁为阴）及其与 五脏（肝、心、脾、肺、肾）五行配属的对应关系，揭示了情志致病的动态病理 学路径。通过跨学科的文献分析与理论思辨，本研究将《黄帝内经》“恬淡虚无， 真气从之”的核心养生理念，与现代神经科学、内分泌学的“稳态平衡”概念进 行深度对话与互释。研究提出：“恬淡虚无”可理解为一种理想的中枢情绪稳态， 而“真气从之”则是以此为基础的自主神经平衡与内分泌功能的最佳运行状态。 本文论证了负面情志通过“扰动气机”这一中介环节，破坏阴阳平衡与五行生克， 进而引发特定脏腑的神经功能紊乱与激素分泌失调，最终导致疾病的现代科学内 涵。本研究不仅为传统中医情志理论提供了清晰的现代化阐释框架，也为现代心 身医学、心理生理学及压力管理等领域提供了源自东方智慧的独特理论贡献与实 践启示。.

风水，作为中国传统文化中极具争议的文化现象，千百年来始终游走于实用技术与封 建迷信之间。现代学界对风水的研究多聚焦于其科学内核的解构——如人居环境学、 空间美学、微气候适应等，或批判其迷信色彩对社会的消极影响，却鲜少追溯风水从 “实用择地之术”演变为“鬼神福佑之学”的历史脉络。本文立足考古实证与古籍考据，以 “秦前无鬼神，后世道教渗透催生鬼神观念”为核心论点，系统梳理风水在不同历史阶段 的形态演变，精准定位鬼神之说融入风水的关键典籍与核心人物，最终揭示：风水的 迷信化并非其原生属性，而是汉代以降宗庙礼制绑定、儒释道三教融合，尤其是道教 方术深度渗透的产物。 秦以前的风水原型，本质是先民为适应自然环境而形成的“相地择居”实用技术，“卜地” 之“卜”意为“决疑判断”，而非占问鬼神；郭璞《葬经》首次引入“福佑”概念，却未涉及 鬼神实体，仅以“气感相应”为理论支撑；唐代以降，托名杨筠松的道教伪书将“气感”升 华为“鬼神司命”，宋代道士进一步将道家内丹修行与风水结合，最终使鬼神之说成为风 水体系的核心迷信元素。本文通过考古文献、传世典籍、学术考据三重证据，还原风 水迷信化的完整过程，重点论证鬼神之说的道教起源，为风水文化的去迷信化研究提 供学术支撑。.

This paper proposes a reversal of the standard strategy for dealing with semantic paradox. Rather than beginning with paradoxical sentences and diagnosing what has gone wrong, it starts from a general account of linguistic pathology and asks which sentences instantiate it. I argue that interpretability is a necessary condition of communication, and that certain forms of semantic disorders—most notably permanent ambiguity and self-denial—constitute genuine pathologies of language. Central to study is a distinction between two roles played by truth: one that (...) secures the link between language and world, and another that operates affirmatively within language itself. I argue that self-reference, often treated as a source of paradox, is better understood as a structural enabling condition, while the pathological effects arise from a specific internal use of truth. On this basis, I outline a principled strategy for containing semantic pathology and indicate how it can be formally implemented without sacrificing legitimate expressive resources. (shrink)

摘要：中国传统“风水”文化中的择时、定向、布局等核心实践，本质是一套以天干地支 历法为时间轴、二十八星宿星象为空间参照、八卦符号体系为定性框架的传统时空计 算学体系。本文以《天玉经》《八宅明镜》《协纪辨方书》等古籍为核心文献依据，系 统解构传统人居中“神煞”“宅命相配”“修造择吉”等原则的计算学本质，揭示其通过符号 编码实现“时间-空间-人”三者适配的演算逻辑。研究表明，传统时空计算学以干支、星 宿、八卦为核心符号，构建了时间周期、空间方位与人体生命节律的关联模型，其“神 煞”概念实为时空符号组合的适配指数，择时定向则是基于该模型的应用性演算。本文 通过古籍考据与跨学科阐释，将传统时空计算学与现代历法学、符号学、节律生物学 相印证，彻底剥离“风水”的迷信外衣，揭示其作为中国古代时空认知与应用计算的科学 内核，为当代人居环境的时间维度设计与个体发展的时空适配提供理论参考。.

This paper examines the cognitive implications of a bilingual word-processing system that simultaneously displays typed input in both English and Persian, with accurate multi-character mappings (e.g., _sh → ش, kh → خ_). Beyond its immediate linguistic utility, the system provides a unique experimental paradigm for studying and training cognitive functions, including bimanual coordination, working memory, bilingual switching, focused attention, perceptual mapping, and fine motor skills. We argue that this tool can function not only as an educational device but also as (...) a form of computerized cognitive training that integrates motor, linguistic, and attentional processes. (shrink)

摘要：中国传统“风水”文化的底层认知，并非封建迷信的主观臆断，而是建立在“天人 合一”宇宙观基础上的象形类比哲学体系。本文以《周易》“同声相应、同气相求”的核 心思想为理论根基，结合《葬书》《青囊经》等古籍文献，从“宇宙-人体-建筑”的同构 关系切入，系统解构传统人居中“门、主、灶”的空间隐喻、阴宅分房布局的人伦编码及 “路冲”等禁忌的认知本质。研究表明，传统人居文化中的各类原则，本质是古人通过象 形类比思维，将宇宙秩序、人体结构与空间形态建立关联的理性认知成果，其核心是 追求“人-空间-宇宙”的和谐共生。这种认知逻辑既体现了中华文明“近取诸身，远取诸 物”的认知智慧，也为当代人居环境的生态化、人性化设计提供了哲学层面的理论支 撑。本文通过古籍文献考据与跨学科阐释，彻底剥离传统人居文化的迷信外衣，揭示 其作为中国古代空间认知哲学的科学内核与当代价值。.

For centuries, philosophers and theologians debated how to reconcile the existence of an all-powerful, all-loving, and ever-present God with the problem of evil. However, the question of why the righteous suffer remains unanswered. Given the omnipresence of God, one wonders why the sufferers experience what seems like God’s absence in their adversity. This study presents a theodicy of narrative analytic theology because the experiences of the saints of old compel us to rethink our approach to the problem of evil from (...) the ‘God’s-eye view’ to the experiential and existential worries of the sufferer. The study looks at the story of Job and Daniel and his friends in Babylon. The narrative theodicy approach helps us understand why the righteous never denounced God in the Old Testament. The New Testament, in line with the Old Testament, reveals a suffering motif of the saints, which includes participation in the atoning work of Christ and the purification of the souls of the sufferer. Nevertheless, it seems some evils are pointless. The sufferers do not see their suffering as a punishment or a weakness from God but as a distraction and a test to perfect their covenantal relationship with the Triune. Ultimately, the suffering of the righteous will be overcome at the eschaton. (shrink)